Karen@Steve

Thank you! We're leaving in just 5 days.

I received an email from Celebrity about upgrading to a Suite on our upcoming cruise. It was really just the difference between what we paid and the price of a guarantee. Not really worth it in our case so we passed. Certainly wasn't free.

We are experienced cruisers. However our tastes and needs have changed over the years. We are in our 60's and no longer need child friendly ships. We have moved from Royal Caribbean, which we liked, to Celebrity. We have sailed twice in a veranda room and twice in aqua class. We find that we really enjoy the specialty restaurants and don't use the dining room at all. We did not use the persian garden and the other amenities were not that special. Blu was nice, but we really like the specialty restaurants better.

 

We are wondering if it makes sense to just use the specialty restaurants for the food and book a lesser room to save money. We are elite so we get some perks already. I like having a balcony to sit on and read or have morning coffee. Can someone suggest a level that would satisfy our needs, but save us some money?

 

We would appreciate any suggestions including changing lines.

It sounds like you don't really get much benefit from AQ class. If you're talking about M-Class ships then it might be worth it to go for CC class because the cabins and verandas are larger than regular veranda class. For S-Class ships it's really a matter of location. If you can get one of the bigger hump angled cabins with the bigger veranda that would make a difference. Otherwise anything 2B or better will give you an unobstructed veranda.

Hi all,

 

I just want to tell you a little story on the recent Captain's Club changes from a different point of view from what I have read so far...

 

We are quite new cruisers and currently have 4 "old" points. We planned and booked a Sydney to Hawaii cruise in 2015, 18 nights - that is some really BIG vacation for us. We like the idea of Elite getting drinks, laundray and some internet minutes. We calculated and thought two 14 nights cruises in Aqua Class will give us 6 points, so 10 before the big cruise - Elite, voila.

Booked two cruises in 2014 some time ago and saving every "Euro" we can to make it all possible.

 

Now, they change the Captain's Club point system and we won't be Elite on our big cruise in 2015... so no free internet minutes and no laundry for us - and no free drinks :(

 

4 points x 30 = 120

14 days AQ = 70 x 2 = 140

260 points in total, not enough to become Elite.

 

I know it is not much money we talk about but somehow it counted for the whole decision of the next three cruises - it just fitted perfect.

 

As most of you are Elite and getting Elite+ with the new system (and some becoming Elite), we are on the "downside" of this.

 

Or can you become a new level now while onboard cause they count days? That way we would become Elite on day 6 - not too bad.

 

As said before - no big deal, but we really liked the idea of having those USEFUL benefits on a long 18 nights cruise :( Esp. cause we already booked everything under the old system.

 

Any one else having such an issue?

 

Thanks for reading!

SImilar situation. We decided that we wanted to do the Galapogas in 2016. We embark on a 7 day cruise in CC in 6 days which along with 2 cruises planned in 2014 and 2015 would get us to elite by our Galapogas cruise based on the current point system. We would then get the Elite discount. Now there no way for us to make it given the limited vacation time we have. Since there is no incentive to stay with Celebrity we will either look at other cruises, forego the Galapogas or just take land based vacation rather than work toward elite. I can't afford to do suites to try and get there in time. If they had at least given us the expected points for this cruise we still could have made it. Ah well, there will be those that are happy and those that won't be with the new system. I'm afraid we're in the latter.

I guess Celebrity really is for people who are retired and can cruise all the time.

Hello fellow cruisers

Does anyone know when we can get our luggage tags?

I know it says on Celebrity's site and you can ask for them by clicking on the button after you get your eDocs so does anyone know when we can expect them?

And do they email us that the edocs are ready to print off?

I guess I am just looking for verification.

__________________

About 45 days out you will get an email saying your e-docs are ready. Very close to that point in time you will also see a button order your luggage tags. This will all be visible under online checkin. I just kept checking back until I saw them available. The email arrived later that same day.

Not complaining, but a little bummed. We just got off a 14 day cruise on Summit in Penthouse and apparently will only get 30 points instead of 18 X 14 or 252 points. Huge difference, would have helped on our journey to Zenith.....

Actually, you should get 90 points...30 for each point. Or am I reading everything wrong?

My status and cruise history have disappeared. In general, I'm not disappointed with the conversion of the old points as I probably will have lost nothing if I come back as I expect. However, I have a cruise booked starting in 6 days. Based on my CC cabin level I will not get as many "points" as I would have under the old system (60 versus 35). The conversion is happening so close to my cruise I have no option to change or cancel. Not really fair. It would probably be fair to allow people already booked (and past final payment) to continue to accrue under the old system before conversion.

Had I known I would not get the same credit for CC I probably would have spent less on a regular veranda since it's an S Class ship. Again, not really very fair but then someone said 'life is not always fair'. Will definitely not be booking CC anymore unless it's M-Class. The differential is not really enough.

Yes, you can bring on two bottles. The two bottles is per cabin, not per person.

On the Summit the Captain introduced each officer and anounced them as either being Greek or wish they were Greek. We've been very impressed with every officer we've met.

When you say you "were offered", did Celebrity call you? :confused:

 

I am noticing that there are some subtle price reductions on my two upcoming cruises in March and May 2014. I can't see where they are a special rate, as I checked the pricing without a Senior or Resident discount. We booked onboard another cruise and received some OBC and the PYP Promo. I am going to call Celebrity CC today and see if we can get the lower rate without losing our perks. We would only save probably about $300 or $400 total, but cash is cash. :D

 

One of the cruises has a CC2 available for less than our 2C - Sweet 16 stateroom I have booked with my daughters to the Caribbean. I believe we will stay with the 2C and reap the benefits of the larger balcony versus a few extra inches in stateroom width. I am Elite, so the other perks of CC do not sway me. This same cruise is offering our 2C for $146 less for the 3 of us. Hey, that's $146 that I can spend on drinks since only two of us get the Beverage Package perk. ;)

They sent me an email and I called.

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

I'd call and check. I was offered a suite gty after final payment last week and the customer service agent said I could keep my free beverage package. It all depends on the rate. Call and check.

Summit

CABIN #: 7198

DECK #: 7

CLASS: C3

AREA: Aft - Starboard

BED NEAR: Bathroom

QUIET?: Very, only the sunset veranda guest pass that way

BALCONY VIEW: Unobstructed but verandas below are covered by canvas

BALCONY SIZE: Standard CC

WIND A PROBLEM?: No

SOOT A PROBLEM?: No

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS:Very nice. Great location near aft elevators

You can bring anything non-alcoholic that you like. We brought on a case of water, soda (pop) and some fruit drinks last time, combined it into one case with lots of tape then put a luggage tag on it and it arrived with our luggage. No problems, no worries.

Yes, they have 4 different beverage packages along with some wine packages. The Celebrity site outlines them pretty well. 2 alcoholic and 2 non-alcoholic.

One good way to meet people to do specialty dining with is to join your roll call. Others on your cruise may be interested in dining in one or more of the Speciality restaurants.

Definitely the Sunset bar. Loved being able to see both port and starboard and look up at the bridge as we went under. Great views all the way around.

I'm thinking that the vouchers will stay as a perk for the lower elite levels. Then as new higher levels are added the special venues will be added back in for them. Thereby culling the herd and getting the numbers back down to a reasonable level.

Great video. Thanks, only 22 days to go and we'll be heading to Miami to board he Reflection.

It's interesting to note that Purrell, which is alcohol based does not kill Noro.

Besides getting extra minutes for Captain's Club membership look for discounts when you board. On our last Celebrity cruise then offerred a 20% increase in minutes if you signed up the first day.

Since I'm booked, paid, confirmed and have received my luggage tags for my cruise in 4 weeks I can look at the site with amusement.

My booking appears with the right cabin but the total cost is now stated as $700 on the front page. When I view my reservation the real amount I paid is accurate but the cost is listed as $7 more than what I paid and I now have an amount due of $7.

I decided not to purchase any excursion or addons to avoid having to call and only pay the amount of the add on.

I think the $7 price difference might be a difference in gratuities. As the quoted price for Select gratuities $168 is different than what they quoted in the fare $175. I have no explanation for the $700. LOL.

If $700 is the real price...I want a refund of more than $1800! hahaha!

Bistro on 5 is open all day and closes about 2am. Great place for a nice sit down alternative to the buffet.

Sounds like a good reason to join the Captain's Club, even the precruise level as that would give you priority boarding in this case.

It's really all about the cabin you want rather than any particular class and the extra point if you need or want it. We booked a C2 on a recent cruise so we could get an oversized veranda. That made it special to us since DH loves the veranda and the large one was just so attractive. I would not book a CC for any other benefit unless you are really chasing points.

Oh, there's lots of reason to be able to use the TV with external programming besides just watching movies and TV. DH and I like to compile slides shows of the digital pictures we taken. It's nice to have on while we're getting ready for the morning or evening activities. We also like to download video we've taken with our Go Pro camera. We get great action shots and it's nice to see what we've captured.

We can wait until we get home but it would be nice to be able to view and enjoy while we're still on board.

I have been on many Celebrity ships but not on the Reflection. I will be on Nov. 1 TA. Thanks for the info. Do you know if they have the Quisine restaurant on the Reflection?

Yes, Qsine is one of the specialty restaurants on the Reflection...only 125 days to go.